Africa’s First Humanoid Robot “Omeife” Set To Be Officially Unveiled In Nigeria

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Nigeria is to officially unveil the first humaniod in Africa named Omeife.The unveiling will take  place on  Friday 2nd December 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.The 6-foot-tall multilingual human-like robot was built by Nigerian technology company based in Abuja, Uniccon group.

The group’s CEO, Mr Chuks Ekwueme, who made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said the event is scheduled to hold on Friday.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, Rwandan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Stanislas Kamanzi, and other eminent personalities will be in attendance.

It was reported that the global unveiling of Omeife took place in October at the world’s biggest technology event, GITEX, in Dubai.

The theme for the forthcoming event is: “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in the African Tech Ecosystem”.

Ekwueme said that the six-foot-tall female African humanoid provides language as a service for businesses that need to integrate native African audiences, adding that she is a multipurpose and assistance robot.

“It Identifies and tags humans through face and facial expressions, paying attention to a specific item when required.

“It Identifies objects, knows their characteristics and also calculates positions and distances of objects it sees.

“It pays attention to a specific person to keep the conversation alive. It is careful and aware of words, phrases, sentences and expressions that are not polite in African cultures.

” It is safe for the kid’s smooth interaction; it is not reactive and it is knowledgeable in various fields and always teachable.

“To improve and understand new things from conversations, itt has the ability to recall, understand old concepts better with new information,” he said.

Ekwueme said some of its features include: Terrain intelligence, position awareness, advanced gestures, grip and it is also programmed to have a deep understanding of African culture and behavioral patterns.

He said: “For terrain intelligence, knowing the level of ground and stability of itself on the floor, this will help it navigate on non-flat surfaces and maintain good balance.

“For position awareness, the GPS for location and state-management is for knowing whether the system is standing, walking or talking.

“Advanced gestures are the expression of talking, hand illustrations, smile and other bodily gestures.

“Grip is the ability to size, understand shape and how to hold things with its hand.”

The CEO said that Africa’s contributions to the tech ecosystem was well recognised globally.

“Africa is fast being recognised for its contribution to the global tech ecosystem.

“Through Omeife and other projects, we are happy to play a part in helping businesses and people all over Africa to achieve their fullest potential by providing access to the most innovative technologies for efficiency,” he said.

Uniccon Group is one of Nigeria’s fastest growing technology startups that offers eclectic, innovative technology solutions to businesses and government agencies across Africa.

The technology sector in Nigeria is fast gaining ground and is making accessibility and sharing of information, ideas, and business transactions much easier.

Not only that, the innovations made by Nigerian tech companies are giving the country wider recognition by the rest of the world.

Omeife is the first African humanoid with near-human resemblance, language competency, movement, navigation, and behavioural intelligence using AI and Computer Vision capabilities.

She is also a multipurpose
and assistance robot and is programmed to have a deep understanding of African culture and behavioural patterns.

Omeife has the ability to speak 8 different languages asides English language.

The languages include  Youruba, Hausa, Igbo, French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Pidgin, Wazobia and Afrikaans.

Omeife was first unveiled at Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, GITEX in Dubai, by the Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital economy, Professor Isa Pantami, who lauded Uniccon group’s commitment to playing a vital role in advancing technological innovation in Africa.

Pantami said Nigeria was providing an enabling environment to enhance digital innovation and an entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country.

According to the Minister, the Nigeria Startup Act will boost the potential of the Nigerian youth in the digital economy to create jobs.

He stated that enormous efforts were invested into making the bill a reality.

He says,  “the signing of the Nigeria Startup Act as a principal legislation is a major achievement that will significantly enhance the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Nigeria.”

Speaking on the Omeife project, the CEO Uniccon Group of Companies, Mr. Chucks Ekwuene says Africa has been recognised for its contribution to the global tech ecosystem.

“Through Omeife and our projects we are happy to play a part in helping businesses and people all over Africa to achieve their fullest potential by providing access to the most innovative technologies for efficiency,” he said.

The unveiling event tagged “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in the African Tech Ecosystem” will feature  tech leaders, diplomatic community, and the government in charting the future of tech in Nigeria, as Africa’s first humanoid robot is unveiled in Nigeria, it will further raise the benchmark of technological advances in the tech industry in the country